Battle Frontier
worked here as the Battle Tower's resident Frontier Brain, where she was nicknamed the "Salon Maiden."]] Battle Frontier ''is a term used to refer to Battle facilities that operate outside of the League's jurisdiction. The existence of Battle Frontiers, despite the fact that their philosophies often run directly counter to official League stances, is generally considered ''beneficial to the massive organization. Frontiers grant Trainers with an illusion of choice and diversity of opinion, deflecting criticism of the League being a monolithic monopoly despite it not actually being any less of one in actual practice. And in allowing their ideological foes to have a platform, no matter how tenuous it is, the League provide for themselves a convenient springboard to further push their own agenda and assert the rightness of their own view. Whereas the yearly League clashes are treated with all the pomp and cultural significance (and not to mention receiving the same level of advertising dollars) as the Super Bowl within their respective Regions, with victorious Champions becoming overnight celebrities, Trainers who make it through a Battle Frontier facility and earn the right to challenge its respective Frontier Brain receive minimal fanfare. Historically, only those matches where a Gold Symbol was at stake were broadcast, and even those were aired during dead timeslots where few people were watching, and prone to having the scheduling shuffled about at the last moment. The modern era of livestreams and on-demand video have made Battle Frontier matches far more publically available than they were even five years previously, but decades of being pushed to the shadows, combined with the tendency of Brains to subtly espouse messages that don't fall in line with what gets taught at Trainer Schools by the very nature of their challenges, has resulted in a status somewhat like that held by professional soccer in America - apathy and disinterest from the public at large, except for a small yet dedicated audience. The Brains themselves, as the stars of the Frontiers, are granted a media and celebrity status akin to that of Elite Four members, their League-approved counterparts in skill and power - all with the ulterior motive of furthering the League's 'party line', of course. They're allowed interviews and TV show gigs, and like many other notables, they get Regional Heroes made after their likenesses - but gossip mags (in the old era) and social media (in the modern era) were and are quick to paint them with a dubious brush on the basis of their views, and society, already predisposed to hold similar thinking by the omnipresence of League culture, were and are quick to do the same. Trainers have the choice to follow them, of course - but when so few are disposed to in the first place, outside of simply wanting the exclusive items that the Frontier can give them, the League has very little to lose (and quite a lot to gain) by allowing them a platform. Major Funding for the Battle Frontier is Provided By... Additional funding is provided by the annual financial support of Trainers like you. Thank you.'' - Common sign-off, after a long list of sponsors, of Battle Frontier telecasts; beginning in the 1970s and continuing until it was retired in the mid 2000's. This memetic phrase is just about the only thing to come from the Battle Frontier to have ever gained mainstream status and acceptance by the culture at large.'' Unlike the internationally-powerful League, Battle Frontiers and their affiliates are regional affairs that receive no taxpayer money, grants, or any other sort of government funding at any level whatsoever. All staff - even the Frontier Brains ''- are volunteers, and virtually all of them hold second jobs, contributing large portions of their own paychecks in order to help keep the facilities they believe in so much running. While individuals like Scott are sometimes described as being "owners" of Battle Frontiers, they in practice are closer to PR managers and talent scouts, in charge of managing the public perception of the facilities in ways that best allow them to continue (while also at the same time not compromising their integrity) the delicate, merely-''tolerated balancing act that is eking out an existence in the looming shadow of the League. The initial funding for a nonstandard Battle facility - the costs required to untangle the bureaucratic red tape, purchase the land, and construct the buildings - generally come in the form of donations from celebrity Trainers who grew disillusioned with the standard system for whatever reason and found themselves marginalized as a result, among other benefactors wealthy enough to contribute large sums to make such an undertaking possible. Donations, from the Frontier's staff and from the outside alike, pay for about 50% of a Frontier's annual bills, with the rest coming from whatever sponsorships the Brains can attract. Accepting these endorsement deals is unfortunately a necessary evil for Brains, and oftentimes, the same companies that sponsor them are also sponsoring popular Trainers on the League circuit, or those directly in official employ such as Gym Leaders and the Elite Four. Companies with no rapidash in the race other than pushing their own products are happy to give money to whoever will shill for them, although public pressure can sometimes lead them to drop Brains in favor of hewing closer to the League. Battle Points Being unaffiliated with the League, the only Pokémon Centers on Frontier grounds (Centers being League-owned and taxpayer-sponsored, after all) are for use by Trainers who are just arriving there, or for Battles held outside the facilities themselves. Within the various Battle buildings, pokémon are serviced by volunteer Nurses, who legally cannot adopt the look, name or persona of "Joy," on account of not being employees of the League. It is a similar story with the PokéMarts located on Frontier grounds - they're owned by the League, not by the Frontier, and they shill their usual wares in return for Pokédollars. This is in contrast to Frontiers, who do not award prize money on the basis that they literally can't afford to pay you. Instead, they award BP - Battle Points. Battle Points are the 'currency' that one can exchange for cutting edge gear that is exclusive ''to Frontiers. Most of these goods, with the exception of natural objects (Berries, herbs, etc), TMs, and vitamin drinks, are hand-crafted in small quantities by the Frontier's volunteers, using proprietary plans developed by Brains both past and present. The only alternative way to obtain these Items is to turn to second hand markets like eBay, where they command prices that are prohibitive to all but the richest of Trainers. Besides physical goods, Battle Points can also be used to "buy" the services of Trainers who have discovered methods to teach pokémon Typed-techniques that they could not otherwise utilize. Battle Points, while borne of financial necessity, help to highlight the difference between the Frontier and the League. In order to get access to ''their ''unique goods and services, a Trainer has to '''earn' Battle Points, and the way one does that is to be good at Battling. In contrast to the League, which enforces a standard ruleset and which acknowledges only one ''way to be a good Trainer, with the number of different facilities and Battling styles that Frontiers provide, even those Trainers who falter in the all-blanketing official format might find an area where they stand out as truly remarkable talents in the field. The Philosophy of the Frontier Battle Frontiers believe in encouraging a ''variety of ways to Battle, rather than just the standardized, League-approved format. As an example, one facility, Hoenn's Battle Palace, straight up doesn't allow Trainers to issue verbal or gestured commands to their pokémon in any way; to excel there requires a Trainer to know their companions on a deeper level than many of them actually do. The intent of Frontiers, and of these nonstandard Battle formats in the first place, is to encourage their challengers to foster relationships with their pokémon that they may not have had previously, and to learn to '''care '''more about them, to see them as beings rather than tools. The 'b-word' is usually not spoken aloud, lest it end up being broadcast and scaring away their sponsors, but it is embodied in the very metaphorical DNA of the Battle Frontier, promoted through demonstration and practice rather than direct words. Battle Frontier Affiliates Stand-alone Battle Towers, and related facilities such as the Battle Subway, Battle Maison and Battle Tree, are technically not Battle Frontiers, although they are founded under the same ideals, funded by the same sorts of individuals, and similarly function outside of the League's expansive umbrella. Battle Towers and their variants, even those within larger Frontiers that otherwise eschew what's considered culturally acceptable, implement standard Battle rules - and, as a result of this calculated surface familiarity, they draw the most challengers. However, those who chance to take them on will find quite a different experience from the League awaits - one designed just as much to challenge them and their worldviews as every other facet of the facilities, all while nominally sticking to its format. Category:Lore Category:Organizations Category:Locations